Sample processors have been configured to concurrently receive a plurality of sample carriers and parallel process the samples carried by the plurality of sample carriers. In one application, the sample carried by a sample carrier is obtained and attached to the sample carrier at the location of collection. For example, the sample carrier can be a swab that is rubbed against an inside wall of a subject's mouth in order to collect a sample that includes cells. After obtaining the sample, the sample carrier is stored in a container, and the container is labeled with indicia used to uniquely identify and distinguish the sample therein from samples on the sample carriers in other containers.
The container with the sample carrier is then taken to another location (e.g., a laboratory) for processing. Where multiple samples are being processed in parallel, the individual sample carriers are removed from their corresponding containers and loaded into respective processing channels of a carrier support. The indicia of the label on the containers are used to map the sample carriers (and hence the samples) to the individual processing channels of the processing apparatus. By way of example, the technologist loading a sample carrier may manually enter (or electronically scan) the indicia of the label into a database or other software executing on a computer and associate the indicia therein with an identifier of the channel in which the corresponding sample carrier is in.
The samples are then processed and the results are read out and/or stored in memory. The sample carriers can then be unloaded and a next set of sample carriers can be loaded for processing. The results of the processing are associated with the individual samples and hence the subjects through the mapping of the label indicia and the channel identifier in the computer. Unfortunately, the above approach is susceptible or prone to human error. By way of example, the technologist may load a sample carrier carrying a sample from John Doe into one channel but inadvertently record in the computer that this sample carrier was loaded into a different channel. As a consequence, the result of the processed sample may be associated with the wrong subject.